Air conditioner of an air conditioning system of a motor vehicle

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an air conditioner of an air conditioning system of a vehicle, comprising a housing with a removable housing cover, in which the following components are arranged: at least one blower motor, at least one impeller, at least one blower motor mounting and at least one motor regulator. According to the invention, said components are arranged in cover ( 1 ) of the housing, especially in the inner side ( 3 ) thereof.

The invention relates to an air conditioner of an air conditioningsystem of a motor vehicle, comprising a housing, having a removablehousing cover, in which the following components are arranged: at leastone blower motor, at least one impeller, at least one blower motormounting and at least one motor regulator.

Air conditioners of the type mentioned serve the purpose of creating adesired climate in a passenger cell or in a loading space of a motorvehicle, in particular of undertaking cooling in the summer months.Since only limited conditions of room are available in a vehicle foraccommodating the air conditioner, it is frequently necessary to mountthe unit at a site accessible from the outside only very poorly.Consequently, its components can be reached only with great effort or,sometimes, under very poor conditions, for example without vision.

The invention is therefore based on the object of providing an airconditioner of the type mentioned at the beginning that is of moremaintenance friendly design. The aim is also to create a solution thatis cost effective and of simple design. This object is achievedaccording to the invention by arranging the components on the housingcover, in particular on its inner side. This solution permits thecomponents located on the housing cover to be taken out as a whole afterreleasing the removable housing cover, such that in the taken-out statethese components can be accessed very conveniently and simply.Advantages accrue even as early as when mounting the air conditioner,since the said components are fastened on the housing cover and then theentire structural unit can be fastened as a whole on the airconditioner. Consequently, not only is a large degree of maintenancefriendliness implemented, but savings in mounting costs result from thepresent design.

It is provided according to a development of the invention that theblower motor mounting comprises a decoupler. The vibrations occurringduring the operation of the blower motor are therefore passed onto thehousing cover in a much reduced fashion in a way that avoids vibrationsfrom being induced into the housing, and thereby avoids shocks and/ortroublesome noise. This is also particularly significant because thesaid components are located on a releasable part, specifically on thehousing cover.

It is also advantageous when a section of a spiral housing assigned tothe impeller is located on the housing cover. The blower of the airconditioner has the impeller driven by the blower motor but whoseoptimum air conveying effect is only developed in cooperation with animpeller housing, in particular a spiral housing. An improvement indesign results from the fact that there is arranged on the housing covera section of the spiral housing designed in such a way that the impellerrevolving in the spiral housing can be removed without any problem uponremoval of the housing cover from the spiral housing. Given such adivision of the spiral housing into a number of parts, it can beprovided that at least one further section or the entire remainder ofthe spiral housing can be fastened on the section located on the housingcover, and thus that the entire spiral housing can also be taken out ofthe air conditioner housing upon removal of the housing cover. In orderto demount the impeller revolving in the spiral housing, it is thennecessary in the removed state of the housing, only to release theconnection between the spiral housing parts. In particular, it ispossible to proceed in such a way that the section assigned to thehousing cover is a housing half. That is to say a separating joint ofthe spiral housing runs in the region of the axis of rotation of theimpeller. A further result of the design explained above is thattolerance problems between the spiral housing and the propeller areavoided, since the impeller position is defined by the position of theblower motor and of the blower motor mounting, and is set in acorresponding way on the basis of the arrangement of these parts on thehousing cover. Since the section of the spiral housing is likewiselocated on the housing cover, the impeller and section of the spiralhousing exhibit a defined position relative to one another, the resultbeing to prevent the undesired occurrence of contact that would lead torubbing of the impeller against the spiral housing.

It is also important that the section of the spiral housing can bedesigned in one piece with the housing cover. Mounting costs of thespiral hosing are eliminated in the case of such a design. Furthermore,a high dimensional precision of the parts is provided, and thereforealso is a correspondingly accurate positioning.

One development of the invention provides that the housing cover has areceptacle for the blower motor mounting and/or a receptacle for themotor regulator. These receptacles can also preferably be integrated inthe housing cover. Because of the especially preshaped receptacles, itis possible for the blower motor mounting and/or of the motor regulatorto be mounted in a very simple and accurate way.

Finally, it is advantageous when other components of the air conditionerare arranged on the housing cover, in particular at least onepositioning motor and/or at least one air flap and/or at least onetemperature sensor and/or at least one air filter and/or at least oneelectric cable. The more components there are arranged on the housingcover, in particular on its inner side, the more the inventive airconditioner turns out to be friendly in terms of maintenance and/ormounting.

The drawing illustrates the invention with the aid of an exemplaryembodiment, specifically:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a housing cover, provided withcomponents, of a housing of an air conditioner of an air conditioningsystem of a vehicle, in a schematic illustration, and

FIG. 2 shows a section through the housing of the air conditioner in aschematic illustration.

FIG. 1 shows a housing cover 1 that is assigned a blower motor mounting2 and a blower motor 3. The blower motor 3 has a motor axle 4 withimpellers 5, 5′. The impellers 5 and 5′ are assigned spiral housings 6,6′ but only the under parts 8 and 8′ of the spiral housing 6, 6′ areillustrated from FIG. 1. The housing cover 1 is also assigned a motorregulator 7.

FIG. 2 illustrates the arrangement of the housing cover 1 on a housing 9of an air conditioner 10 (not illustrated in more detail) of an airconditioning system for a motor vehicle. The most varied units of theair conditioner 10 are arranged in the interior 11 of the housing 9 (notillustrated). The housing 10 has a housing opening 12 that can be sealedby means of the housing cover 1. The housing cover 1 is held for thispurpose in the region of the opening rim of the housing opening 12 bymeans of suitable, releasable fastening means. Some of theabovementioned assemblies of the air conditioner are fastened on theunderside 13 of the housing cover 1. These units are illustratedschematically in FIG. 2 and denoted by 14.

In accordance with FIG. 1, the housing cover 1 has the blower motormounting 2 on its inner side 13 approximately in the middle. The blowermotor mounting 2 is designed as a mounting with a decoupler 15, that isto say it has a vibration-absorbing design in order to reduce thetransmission of vibrations of the blower motor 3 to the housing cover 1.To provide ease of assembly, a receptacle 16 on which the housing motormounting 2 can be fastened is constructed integrally on the inner side13 of the housing cover 1. It is preferred for the receptacle 16 also tobe constructed in the course of the injection molding process of thehousing cover 1 consisting of plastic. The blower motor 3 is fastened onthe top side 17 of the blower motor mounting 2. Its motor axle 4 is ofcontinuous design, that is to say it has two shaft supports 18, 18′ ontowhich the impellers 5, 5′ are firmly pressed. The impellers 5, 5′ areillustrated only schematically in FIG. 1, that is to say the blowervanes and the like cannot be detected. The arrangement is made in such away that with reference to each of the impellers 5, 5′ a section 19 or19′ of the spiral housing 6 or 6′ proceeds from the inner side 13. Thesections 19 and 19′ are preferably produced integrally with the housingcover 1. The sections 19, 19′ are housing halves of the spiral housing6, 6′, that is to say their upper rim 20 or 20′ is situated at a level(distance from the inner side 13 of the housing cover 1) thatcorresponds to the height arrangement of the motor axle 4. Consequently,the second half, not illustrated, of each spiral housing 6, 6′ can bepushed from above over the respective impeller 5, 5′ in each case, andbe connected to the corresponding section 19 or 19′ by means of suitablecoupling elements. Each spiral housing 6, 6′ is assigned at least oneair inlet and air outlet opening (not illustrated). As an alternative tofastening the second halves of the spiral housings 6, 6′ on the firsthalves (sections 19, 19′) it can also be provided that the second halvesare permanently arranged in the housing 9 and are automatically assignedto the first halves when the housing cover 1 is inserted into thehousing opening 12. As FIG. 1 shows, the outer wall 21, 21′ of eachsection 19, 19′ is designed in a fashion lengthened upward in the regionof the associated impeller 5 or 5′, this wall 21, 21′ simultaneouslyforming an end wall of the housing cover 1.

A receptacle 22 for the motor regulator 7 is constructed on the innerside 13 of the housing cover 1 in the region between the blower motor 3and the impeller 5′. This receptacle 22 is likewise of integralconfiguration with the housing cover 1 and serves for receiving themotor regulator 7. The motor regulator 7 is therefore removably fastenedon the housing cover 1.

The blower motor 3 is designed as an electric motor; the motor regulator7 is likewise an electric component. These two components are connectedto one another via electric cables (not illustrated), the cablespreferably likewise being fastened on the inner side 13 of the housingcover 1 by means of suitable fastening elements (in particular clips).

The following function results.

If, for example, the blower motor 3 of the air conditioner 10 is to beexamined more closely during an inspection or upon the occurrence of thefault message, it is necessary to open the housing 9. Since, accordingto the invention, the abovementioned assemblies of the air conditioner10 are arranged on the inner side 13 of the housing cover 1, the housingcover 1 can be removed, altogether with the assemblies arranged thereon,in a simple way by releasing an appropriate fastening device. In thisway, firstly, the housing opening 12 is released such that there isaccess to the interior 11 of the housing 9 of the air conditioner 1 and,secondly, there is optimum accessibility to the components located onthe housing cover 1, since the housing cover 1 can be handled simply byremoving it from the motor vehicle. The ease of accessibility reducesthe assembly/repair costs and also permits reliable operation. If, forexample, the blower motor 3 is exchanged in the event of a defect, allthe fastening sites and elements that are to be screwed off are freelyaccessible. After the motor exchange, the housing cover, together withthe associated unit/components, is reassigned to the air conditioner 10in a simple way. In particular, the procedure is such that theassemblies on the housing cover 1 are cohesive assemblies. What isunderstood thereby are the assemblies that form a functional unit in thesense of a module (for example air supply or cooling unit or the like)such that all the components belonging to this functional unit arealways accessible in the case of a removal.

1. An air conditioner of an air conditioning system of a motor vehicle,comprising a housing, having a removable housing cover, in which thefollowing components are arranged: at least one blower motor, at leastone impeller, at least one blower motor mounting and at least one motorregulator, characterized in that the components are arranged on thehousing cover (1), in particular on its inner side (13).
 2. The airconditioner as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the blowermotor mounting (2) comprises a vibration isolator (15).
 3. The airconditioner as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the impeller(5, 5′) is assigned a spiral housing (6, 6′) of which a section (19,19′) is located on the housing cover (1).
 4. The air conditioneraccording to claim 1, characterized in that the section (19, 19′) of thespiral housing (6, 6′) is designed in one piece with the housing cover(1).
 5. The air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe housing cover (1) has a receptacle (16) for the blower motormounting (2) and/or a receptacle (22) for the motor regulator (7). 6.The air conditioner according to claim 1, characterized in that othercomponents of the air conditioner (10) are arranged on the housing cover(1), in particular at least one positioning motor and/or at least oneair flap and/or at least one temperature sensor and/or at least one airfilter and/or at least one electric cable.
 7. The air conditioneraccording to claim 1, characterized in that a blower motor (3), twoimpellers (5, 5′), a blower motor mounting (2) and a motor regulator (7)are arranged on the housing cover (1).